Man fails in appeal against conviction and sentence for raping his sister | Daily ExpressMalaysia

Man fails in appeal against conviction and sentence for raping his sister

Kota Kinabalu: A 24-year-old man who was sentenced to 33 years in prison and 19 lashes for two sexual offenses against his 10-year-old sister has failed in his appeal against his conviction and sentence. Supreme Court Justice Datuk Dr. Lim Hock Leng, dismissed the man’s appeal after hearing submissions from both his lawyer and the prosecution.

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The court upheld the conviction and sentences of the Sessions Court judge. On May 18, 2023, the man was convicted by the Sessions Court here on two charges leveled against him. The man was sentenced to 21 years in prison and 12 canings in the first case for raping the victim in Kota Marudu in 2017. In the second case, he was given 12 years in prison and seven strokes of the cane for sodomizing the same victim at the same location, also in 2017.

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The man was ordered to serve the prison sentences consecutively from the date of his sentencing on May 18, 2023. The first count under Section 376 (3) of the Criminal Code carries a prison sentence of between eight and 30 years and at least one flogging more than ten times if convicted, while the second count under Section 377A of the Penal Code carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years and flogging in the event of one entails condemnation.

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The complainant’s lawyer, Datuk Bernard J. Dalinting, submitted, among other things, that the trial judge erred in law and failed to take into account his statements that he and the victim had previously had an argument which led to the victim making false allegations raised against him. Bernard also argued that the sentences imposed were manifestly excessive and that the judge erred in law by ordering the sentences for the charges consecutively. Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Dacia Jane Romanus applied for the appeal to be dismissed, submitting that the alleged fact that the relationship between the complainant and the victim was strained was never mentioned to the victim and was therefore viewed as an afterthought. Regarding the sentence, DPP Dacia submitted that the sentences imposed were appropriate as the case had already been tried in full and that the sentence was well within the law and was not manifestly excessive.

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